The cutting of 300 public service positions doesn’t go far enough, the NT News believes

MAKE no mistake, the public service cut by the Gunner Government of 300 positions resembles a pimple on a pumpkin.

MAKE no mistake, the public service cut by the Gunner Government of 300 positions resembles a pimple on a pumpkin.

It’s good to hear front line services won’t be slashed — but out of 21,100 public servants, a cut of 300 resembles a tiny trim of 1.4 per cent of all staff.

Yes, it will save $30 million which is welcome, but it goes nowhere near far enough to address the economic crisis we find ourselves in.

Just last week, this newspaper reported on $700,000 of taxpayers’ money being spent on ministerial cars and chauffeurs.

Surprise, surprise ... doesn’t seem that unnecessary spending — which fails the pub test — is being cut.

The Territory needs its public service, we get that.

But, just like any workplace needs to operate, they need to conduct a root and branch review of every single position and work out whether we need to keep funding people who are getting paid by the public purse for not doing much.

The tough thing with this whole issue is that public servants live locally so they spend their money locally, making it such a delicate task when deciding whether or not to cut jobs.

But tough times call for tough decisions and a 1.4 per cent cut to all public service jobs doesn’t go far enough.

If this is all the Government is cutting from the public service leading into the Budget, they must have some aces up their sleeve.

Only time will tell what those aces are.